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Not sure if this has been discussed before but I am interested to hear everyone's thoughts on this....

Why are both NEW and SECONDHAND cars so expensive in Australia???

Given the strength of our $A - they really should be alot cheaper shouldn't they??

For example - I have been watching Fifth Gear and they looked at second hand sports cars - an RX8 for 1500 pounds... Convert that to $A and that equates to just over $2k... $2K!!! Top Gear did a special and Richard bought a bug eyed WRX for 1500 pounds to!

It seems the same for new cars.... A VW GTi for 23,000 pounds (A$33,000)

If this was the case here - I would have cars everywhere........ But why isn't it??

Thats because in europe the cars have to meet certain emission standards, also you pay more money for to have an older car over there due to it not meeting these standads and bigger engines cost a hudge amount, also insurance is increased for older cars. Also i think the government gives subsidies when you trade an old car. So every one wants a new car

was talking to a pommy bloke who moved over here, he has a nice job, nice house, nice car etc. but he said to go back to England not having any actual "skills" like a trade, the most he could earn is 100 pound a week.

the reason that rexs and rx8s and many sports cars are cheap over in the uk is no one can afford to insure them. In 2007 i bought a 1998 200sx turbo auto. i was 25 with 5 yrs no claims and the cheapest i could get was 3rd party and it was 4650 pounds per year. Who can pay that just for insurance.

the reason that rexs and rx8s and many sports cars are cheap over in the uk is no one can afford to insure them. In 2007 i bought a 1998 200sx turbo auto. i was 25 with 5 yrs no claims and the cheapest i could get was 3rd party and it was 4650 pounds per year. Who can pay that just for insurance.

Because no one works in Australia for $50.00 a week like in Asia, because we have SO many people who want to be instant millionaires, Greedy execs, too much overseas control and, people in Australia who don't want to support home made cars so they can get cheaper cars like mmmm Cherrys? TOO MANY..... fill in whatever you want.

Because, despite all of the complaints, people still pay the prices on offer*. If everyone refused to pay the over-inflated prices, then the manufacturers would lower them. Of course, in the real world that isn't going to happen, so the gouging (or profiteering, if you prefer) will go on. Car makers are like everyone else: they want to get the biggest return they can for their goods.

*And, yes, I'm guilty too.

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was talking to a pommy bloke who moved over here, he has a nice job, nice house, nice car etc. but he said to go back to England not having any actual "skills" like a trade, the most he could earn is 100 pound a week.

Try living off that :/

they might pay well for stuff like motoring costs , but i`ll bet they probably don`t pay 8 buks for a hamburger, or 500+ dollars each time the electricity bill comes in for an average 3 bedroom home, or 70 buks or upwards for a decent pair of shoes.
look at the price of housing here,
just did a google, The average cost of a UK home is now £162,245.

the average for an Australian property at july 2012 had come down to $550,000.
it`s expensive to live here, it`s expensive to do business.

Australians have been ripped of for years and it just keeps happening.
eg : I have a Phillips electric razor..new cutters are $90 here, I get them air freighted from America for $40 !!! there is no justification for a $50 price gouge. Phillips told me "its freight etc" !!!

Australians have been ripped of for years and it just keeps happening.
eg : I have a Phillips electric razor..new cutters are $90 here, I get them air freighted from America for $40 !!! there is no justification for a $50 price gouge. Phillips told me "its freight etc" !!!

Absolutely. Just like our medical system. You can have all sorts of procedures done in Asia much cheaper than here. We pay our nurses far too much.

I reckon if we paid nurses only $20 per week as they are in other parts of the world then electric razors would be much cheaper........

Flappist, I am going to ASSUME your comment was tongue in cheek.(sarcasm)

Cheers Vincenzo

Ummm guess who is a Nurse. Give you a clue, they think razors are too expensive......

My point was that things are expensive here, ALL things including us.

We could make everything heaps cheaper if we got rid of medicare and the dole like USA, removed all unions like SE Asia, forced everyone actually pass qualifications before receiving benefits from them even down to high school and removed the whole bankruptcy scam so if you stuff up you lose everything for ever or until you pay back all of your debts in full.

Australians have been ripped of for years and it just keeps happening.
eg : I have a Phillips electric razor..new cutters are $90 here, I get them air freighted from America for $40 !!! there is no justification for a $50 price gouge. Phillips told me "its freight etc" !!!

So you freight direct, you spend the time to source, pay the bill,deal on line,or via fone, thats your time and thats usually free
Then possibly a trip to the post office and a scribbled and your done
Paying someone by the hour to do this service costs money,plus any other costs
I doubt someone is gunna sit there all day flicking 1 razor in a bag,organise transport/freight,and anything else for free
Usually its a box/carton/pallet at a time, then a freight company charge or inhouse,still a cost, then the shipping costs, then the costs to take off the ship, then another freight charge, then a retailer charge,then the governments slice
Everyone has a slice of the pie, from the manufacture, freight,storage,retailer

302XC I would expect $60 to be a reasonable price difference not $90........
Flappist..I also assume you were tongue in cheek...but nurses are paid more in USA than here...the biggest medical costs are what Drs charge...just like dentists...I am a nurse my wage isn't good, its only penalty rates that make it liveable..., when you consider the BS I put with from govco, patients and relatives...but this is going off topic...

302XC I would expect $60 to be a reasonable price difference not $90........
Flappist..I also assume you were tongue in cheek...but nurses are paid more in USA than here...the biggest medical costs are what Drs charge...just like dentists...I am a nurse my wage isn't good, its only penalty rates that make it liveable..., when you consider the BS I put with from govco, patients and relatives...but this is going off topic...

Yes it was tongue in cheek and while US may be higher so are the costs of medical care whereas Asia is cheaper on both counts.

Remember that we have to run an ecomomy and the money has to come from somewhere.
If we directly import everything then why do we need any people employed in retail or wholesale for that matter.
So now what do we do with these extra millions of unemployed people? Public service jobs?
So we need more tax.
Tax business, they are all rich.
But business can't afford more tax unless it cuts expenses such as employees.
So now we have more unemployed.
More public service jobs? (note that this has been tried in QLD for the last 20 years and it did not work out so well)

Every time you import directly and not buy locally you erode the Australian economy and put Australian jobs at risk.

One day the job that goes might be yours and then you might not be able to afford to import anything.........

The cost of living is the price we pay for living as we do. If you want to pay the price other s do then look how they live as that is how you may end up.

Surely the most obivious reason has been missed.
The price is set at what the market is willing to pay.
If we all stopped buying vehicles for 8 weeks, imagine on how much the prices would drop if no one was buying. If we keep paying the prices being asked, then the dealers and OEMs will keep askig the same price.
Just look at the difference between the Ford Kuga RRP at launch and the transaction cost you have now.

Its not just compared to overseas though, cars in Australia don't seem to be priced the same. Take these examples, the same car - brand new at a dealer - here in SA, $49,990 drive away, in NSW $43,880 drive away. That's a massive difference for exactly the same car! In fact, they've even gone so far as to use the same pictures as each other so the dealers could even be linked somehow.

Surely the most obivious reason has been missed.
The price is set at what the market is willing to pay.
If we all stopped buying vehicles for 8 weeks, imagine on how much the prices would drop if no one was buying. If we keep paying the prices being asked, then the dealers and OEMs will keep askig the same price.
Just look at the difference between the Ford Kuga RRP at launch and the transaction cost you have now.

Yeh that will work.

While we are at it, wages are a bit high. Lets not pay any employees for 8 weeks and then see what sort of lower wage they will settle for.